


Emerge From the Wreckage

by MotherOfBeardedDragons



Series: Clint Barton Bingo 2019 [2]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Clint Barton Bingo, Gen, Hurt Clint Barton, Missions Gone Wrong, The Avengers Are Good Bros, but it is not this day, collapsed building, one day I'll fill a prompt in just 500 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-11-29 03:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18217460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MotherOfBeardedDragons/pseuds/MotherOfBeardedDragons
Summary: Clint Barton is trapped underneath a building after a mission goes wrong. It's not the first time he's been trapped under a building and he knows the team will get him out. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned (what else is new) and he is injured. The team has to work together to get Clint to safety and help him recover.





	1. Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot, but that didn't happen. This is for the "trapped" square on my Clint Barton bingo card. 
> 
> Mild warnings include mentions of claustrophobia, vomiting (nothing graphic), needles, and injuries (also not graphic).

   There was dust, darkness, debris, and the sensation of being crushed. Clint took a deep breath trying to keep calm and analyze the situation. He was in a hole in the wreckage about seven feet long, four feet high, and five feet wide; it looked like some metal had caught most of the debris over him, creating this small pocket. 

   He vaguely remembered Tony trying to help him in all the chaos. As the building was collapsing Tony had been too far away to pull him out, but had been able to hit a metal sheet with a repulsor blast, knocking it on top of Clint. The metal had taken most of the impact of the debris and had probably saved his life. 

   But he knew it was only a temporary fix. The building was unstable and could collapse further at any minute, or he could run out of air, or there could be an explosion or fire. He tried not to think about that as he rolled from his back onto his side, groaning. 

   Clint silently assessed his injuries, an old habit. There had been the ones he had received during the battle- the cut on his right arm that had already stopped bleeding, a sprained left wrist, and bruised (possibly broken) ribs on his right side. And then the injuries he had gotten during the building collapse- a bloody nose (which luckily didn’t seem to be broken) and multiple scrapes on his face and hands. And those were just the injuries he was aware of. 

   He sighed, coughing when the dust filled his nose and mouth. He carefully rubbed his eyes, which were watering heavily. Shit, he should have known better than to stir up the dust, that was one of the worst parts about being trapped under a building.

   Oh yes, this definitely wasn’t Clint’s first time at the rodeo. He had been trapped under collapsed buildings on more than one occasion, but to be fair, he had never been trapped under a building this large. He wasn’t sure how long it would take the team to reach him, but he had to trust them. He knew between Steve’s leadership, Tony’s ingenuity, and Natasha’s stubbornness they’d come up with a plan and see it through. All Clint had to do was wait. 

   Being stuck in a confined space under shifting rubble would freak out the average person, and while Clint was concerned, he wasn’t really scared. He knew he probably had the circus to thank for this- any claustrophobia he might have possessed had been snuffed out of him pretty early on. 

   Before he became a proficient archer he used to help out other acts and that included being stuffed into small boxes during magic tricks. He had been a pretty small kid, so he had been able to fit pretty easily, but sitting in a small box under hot lights for long periods of time was pretty intense. But like everything else in his weird life he had gotten used to it. 

   He and Barney had also liked to go exploring and had no hesitations about crawling through caves, crawlspaces, tunnels, or air ducts. The team gave him a hard time about his tendency to crawl through the vents but, like heights, small spaces to hide in made him feel secure. Plus it was fun to pop out of random vents and scare the shit out of people in the tower. 

   While he was reminiscing about his circus days Clint heard a faint sound. He cursed realizing he had lost one of his hearing aids, and tilted his head, trying to catch  the sound with his working ear. He finally pinpointed the sound to his left, maybe about ten feet away. He carefully rolled, cursing again at the pain, and put his right ear against a hole in the rubble, listening. He finally identified the sound as someone groaning. 

   “Hello?”

   He heard some mumbling mixed in with the slight groans. 

   “Hey, you’re gonna have to speak up,” Clint replied in frustration. 

   “I said, it’s Bruce. I’m trapped under a slab of cement.”

   “Oh shit! Bruce! Are you ok? Are you hurt?,” Clint nearly shouted. 

   “I’m fine. The Other Guy broke a good chunk out of the cement, so it’s not crushing me or anything.”

   “Oh man. I thought I was by myself down here.”

   “I didn’t. You’ve been talking to yourself the past ten minutes,” Bruce stated.

   “Oh.” 

   “Yeah, something about the circus, I don’t know. I zoned out after a while.”

   “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?!”

   “I just woke up from being the Other Guy, it takes me a while to get my bearings,” Bruce said slightly defensively. 

   “Ok, sorry.” Clint really didn’t want Bruce to Hulk out again and bring the rest of the building down on them. 

   “No, sorry. I’m just irritated. I can’t believe he let me get stuck down here, that big green idiot.”

   “It’s ok, I’m sure someone will be down here soon.”

   “Hopefully,” Bruce said sighing. “This really sucks.”

   The two sat in silence for a moment before Clint spoke up. “You’re not claustrophobic are you?”

   “No. Fortunately. If I was you’d be hearing the Other Guy roaring.” 

   “Instead of you bitching?” 

   “I know  _ you’re _ not claustrophobic,” Bruce replied, ignoring Clint. 

   “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I heard that eye roll even through all this rubble.”

   Bruce laughed. “You have to admit you are kind of a pain in the ass crawling through the air vents.”

   “Look, I told you I was sorry about the time I jumped out into your lab. I swear I thought it was the kitchen.”

   “How could you mistake my lab for the kitchen?”

   “It was early and I really needed coffee,” Clint defended. 

   “You almost caused me to transform.”

   “I said I was sorry.”

   “I had a six months incident free. All it took you was ten seconds…”

   Their friendly bickering was interrupted by the sound of cement cracking and yelling. Clint turned his good ear up and heard a beeping sound.  

   “I think they’ve found us,” Bruce said. “It sounds like they’re making their way down here.”

   “Well they could hurry it up, I’m hungry.”

   “They need to take it slow, one wrong move and they could crush us.”

   “Look man, I just want a sandwich. Don’t interrupt me with logic and reason,” Clint grumbled. 

   They sat in silence and listened to the crunching and beeping getting closer until they finally heard Tony’s voice. Tony was loud enough that Clint could hear him easily despite missing a hearing aid. 

   “I found them! How long did it take? Ha! I told you it’d be under thirty minutes. Pay up Romanoff.”

   Clint groaned. “Are you seriously taking bets on how long it’d take you to find us?”

   “I’m testing out my latest tech built for search and rescue. You’ve made a valuable contribution to science by getting your ass buried down here. Probably you’re only contribution…”

   “Bite me Tony.”

   “Do you know how long it’ll take to get us out of here?,” Bruce interrupted. Clint and Tony would sit there and banter all day if given the chance. 

   “Probably about twenty minutes. There’s a few more slabs of concrete I need to move, and I want to do some more scans. But it all seems pretty stable.”

   “Unlike you,” Clint replied, grinning. 

   “Shut it Barton. I’ll leave your ass down here with the mole people.” 

   Bruce and Clint listened as Tony began the tedious process of scanning the layers of rubble with the suit and carefully moving pieces. 

   “I’m closer to Bruce, so I’m going to get him out then go for Barton,” Tony reported.

   “See you on the other side,” Clint said as he heard Tony pulling Bruce out of the debris. 

   “I’ll save you a sandwich,” Bruce replied. 

   “Screw a sandwich, I want a whole pizza,” Clint said, snorting. 

   He listened to Tony and Bruce slowly make their way up to the surface and then sat listening to the silence. He sighed. Waiting was the worst part, that’s why he hated extractions from missions. He would much rather get himself out. Sitting and feeling helpless was a feeling he didn’t like. Although he knew logically that staying put was the smartest plan, he hated not being in control. 

   He kept himself entertained by stacking pieces of cement into a tower until he heard Tony making his way back down. 

   “You still there Barton?,” Tony asked. 

   “Yep.” 

   “Damn,” Tony said in fake disappointment.

   “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” 

   “I didn’t need to ask, I had FRIDAY scan you and Bruce to make sure you were ok. Ah, shit.”

   “What is it?,” Clint asked.

   “There’s some rebar blocking my way. It’ll take me a while to weld through it.”

   “Well I’m not going anywhere.”

   “I might be able to move it, it’d save us close to an hour. JARVIS show me the scans of this section,” Tony said.

   “Scans show there’s a 60% chance of shifting the metal without disrupting the surrounding debris,” JARVIS announced. 

   “What if I move it to the left? At a forty degree angle?”

   “Maybe you should just cut through it Stark,” Clint said, sighing. He didn’t want to sit there and listen to Tony argue with JARVIS all night. 

   “No, I got this. It’s an engineering problem. I just need to figure out the physics on it.”

   “Whatever.”

   “Ok, so I just need to break this piece here…” 

   Clint heard a buzz as Tony sawed through a piece of cement above him, then saw the light from his suit through a small hole that appeared. Clint squinted, having adjusted to the darkness. 

   “Alright now I just need to move this piece and then I’m through.”

   “Sir, you might consider cutting through the rest of the rebar,” JARVIS stated. 

   “Look, this piece is being supported by a beam underneath, if I just shift it to the left I can get through. It’ll take me at least forty minutes to cut through all this.”

   “It’s a risk sir,” JARVIS replied. 

   “Of course it’s a risk we’re underneath a collapsed building and I’m using lasers to cut through metal and cement. Anything I do under here is a risk.”

   “Will you quit shining that thing in my eyes,” Clint complained. 

   “I’m sorry, trying to take a nap?,” Tony replied. 

   “I might if you’d shut the hell up.”

   “That’s rich coming from you. Bruce told me you were rambling to yourself about the circus for like thirty minutes.”

   “I didn’t know he was down here! And I didn’t realize I was talking out loud,” Clint defended. 

   “Yeah, we all know you’re unhinged Barton,” Tony replied, grunting as he tried to move the piece of concrete. 

   “At least I…” 

   Clint’s reply was lost as there was a loud crack. He coughed at the thick dust as chunks of cement rained down. There was a sickening groan and then the metal above Clint buckled and snapped. 

   “Fuck! JARVIS, stabilize that piece!,” Clint barely heard Tony shout above the noise of the rubble cascading. 

   He rolled and dodged a big chunk of debris. The shifting and shaking began to slow, and Clint thought he was good. Then there was a loud snap. 

   Clint felt a blinding pain in his left foot that spasmed all the way up his leg. He screamed in blind agony as awave of cold shock washed over him. His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath and he wondered if his foot had been cut off. It sure as hell felt like it. 

   He closed his eyes against the blinding light above him. The pain lessened from searing white to throbbing red, and he glanced down. There was a large chunk of cement, like a cinder block, on top of his foot. 

   He shakily laid back and tried to hold back a groan as the pain gripped his leg. He tried to take a deep breath as his body shivered and he fought against unconsciousness.  

   “Clint, you there?! Clint say something!,” Tony yelled. 

   Clint glanced up into the now large hole above him to see Tony’s horrified face. 

   “Still here,” Clint gasped. “Shit, that hurt.”

   “We’re gonna get out of here,” Tony said, trying to keep calm. He held up a hand to scan below him. “JARVIS what’s the situation?”

   “Preliminary scans show that Mr. Barton’s foot appears to be broken in two places. Fortunately it looks like his boot took some of the impact and it is a clean break and not a crush injury,” JARVIS reported.

   “Hooray,” Clint said dryly. 

   “X-rays will be needed to show the full and accurate extent of the damage,” JARVIS continued. 

   “Alright, JARVIS is it safe to get this off his leg?,” Tony asked.

   “Since it isn’t a crush injury it is safe to immediately remove the debris.”

   “Ok, I’m going to get this off your leg, then we’re getting the hell out of here,” Tony stated. 

   “Sounds good to me,” Clint replied, trying not to slur his words. He was starting to get light-headed and knew he couldn’t let himself faint. He had to get out of there.

   “Alright. Here it goes,” Tony said nervously. He quickly pushed the chunk off of Clint in one clean shove.

   Clint let out a strangled yell and saw blackness in the corners of his vision. He gasped for breath as he felt numbness take over his body and darkness completely flood his vision.  

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Tony struggled to drag Clint’s unconscious form through the maze of debris. He pushed away the guilt, he’d have plenty of time to beat himself up over this later, and focused on getting Clint to safety. 

   “Sir, you need to slow down, this building is still unstable,” JARVIS prompted him. 

   Tony took a deep breath. He knew he needed to move slowly and carefully, but knowing Clint was unconscious and injured made it difficult. He felt his heart rate spike and took deep breaths. He had JARVIS monitor Clint’s vitals and kept an eye on them on his display, so he knew Clint was ok right now. 

   “Keep mapping the best route out of here,” Tony said, carefully pulling Clint through a hole in the debris. The last thing he needed to do was further injure him. 

   Tony knew the power on the suit was draining. He had really been pushing it today and knew he only had enough energy to get out of the hole and to a plane. There was no way he would be able to fly safely.  

   After what felt like an eternity, and with several close calls through the shifting rubble, Tony finally made it to the surface and sighed in relief as Bruce and Natasha pulled Clint up. Tony scrambled up after them and was surprised to see how late it was, he hadn’t realized how long he had been under there. 

   “How is he?,” Bruce asked.

   Tony had been able to send a brief message to them when he had got closer to the surface.

   “Still stable, but unconscious. Not sure exactly how bad the foot is, but JARVIS said it was broken and not crushed, so there’s that,” Tony gasped. He raised his faceplate and wiped away sweat. 

   “Are  _ you _ ok?,” Natasha asked, taking in Tony’s appearance. 

   “Just great. Super,” Tony said distractedly. He was watching Bruce examine Clint. 

   “Come on Clint, you need to wake up,” Bruce said loudly, as he carefully moved Clint’s arms and uninjured leg to get the blood flowing. 

   Clint felt the stirrings of consciousness and tried to shrug them off. He was comfortable in bed and didn’t want to wake up yet. There was a warm form next to him, must be Lucky. He tried to block out the noise, someone trying to wake him up. He just wanted to sleep. His foot hurt, maybe he sprained it on a mission. He fought the tethers of consciousness and let the cool darkness take him.

   Bruce gave up trying to wake Clint up for the moment and set about checking his pulse and heart rate as best as he could.

   They were in a remote area and Steve had been two hours away while Thor was on another planet. She had briefly talked to Steve and knew he had started making his way there on a plane as soon as he heard things had gone south.

   Natasha cursed herself for not realizing this entire thing had been a trap. The only good thing was that there hadn’t been any civilians. However, in the fighting Stark’s plane had gotten blown up, so they were trapped until Steve got there. They had managed to take out all of the hostiles, but not before one of them had blown the building. Natasha had made quick work of him. 

   “I’m worried about him going into shock,” Bruce said. “I wish we had a medical kit.”

   “Well, people in hell wish they had ice water but….,” Tony shrugged distractedly. He was worried about the diminishing power levels on his suit. 

   “We have another problem. Steve isn’t going to be able to land down here,” Natasha said, gesturing to what essentially was a crater they were now in. “He’s going to have to land up there. It’s going to take us forever to get Clint all the way up there unconscious.”

   They all looked up the steep hill strewn with debris to the only spot Steve would be able to land. If Clint were awake they would be able to support him up the hill and over the debris. But unconscious they would have to try to carry him while scrambling up a steep hill over unstable ground, and he would be dead weight. 

   “If we manage to wake him up he might pass out again from the pain or go into shock,” Bruce said sighing. 

   “Steve should be here in fifteen minutes,” Natasha said, listening to the static-filled message over their one working comm. 

   This mission had been a complete disaster. Originally it was supposed to be a simple rescue, so only she, Clint, and Tony had been sent. Bruce had joined them at the last minute in case they needed backup, but he was supposed to be a support position. 

   “Wait. I know. Adrenaline! We give him a shot of adrenaline and he wakes up, helps us get him to the plane, and it’ll help keep him from going into shock or passing out,” Tony said with realization. 

   “That could be helpful if we  _ had _ a shot of adrenaline to give him,” Bruce said sighing. He was pretty sure Tony had zoned out when he had mentioned the whole “we don’t have a medical kit” thing. 

   “My friend, it’s your lucky day,” Tony replied. “JARVIS can you deploy an adrenaline hypodermic for Barton’s size and weight?”

   “Calculating dosage sir,” JARVIS replied. 

   After a moment a small compartment on the side of the suit opened and Tony pulled out a capped hypodermic syringe. 

   “You just carry needles full of adrenaline around in the suit?,” Natasha asked, eyebrow raised. 

   Bruce just took the syringe without question. Honestly, Tony could pull a rabbit out of the suit like a magician and he wouldn’t be surprised at this point. His friend was always coming up with more things to add to the design. 

   “Pepper’s allergic to bees. She makes sure to carry an epipen, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a system in the suit,” Tony said, shrugging. 

   Natasha smiled. Tony may act like an arrogant bastard, but he was thoughtful enough to install an entire medical device into his suit to make sure his fiance was always safe. That said a lot about someone’s true character.    

   “Well, it looks like it’s unexpectedly come in handy,” Bruce replied. “Although this wouldn’t be my first choice. Adrenaline or epinephrine is mainly just used for anaphylactic shock, it’s risky to use it like this.”

   “We don’t have a lot of options right now,” Natasha pointed out.  

   “Do you think it’ll work?,” Tony asked. 

   “It should wake him up, and alleviate some of the pain. And it’ll keep him from going into shock since it will raise his blood pressure. Because JARVIS calculated the dose it should be safe, but there are still risks. We’ll need to get him onto the plane as quickly as possible,” Bruce explained, uncapping the needle. The sooner they got Clint proper medical care the better. 

   Natasha nodded. 

   “Let’s do this,” Tony said. 

   “Ok,” Bruce replied, taking a deep breath. 

  He quickly jammed the needle into the outside of Clint’s thigh and held it in place as the medication emptied out. He pulled the needle out and quickly moved back in case Clint panicked and lashed out. 

   A moment later Clint gasped and woke up startled. He moved to jump up, but Natasha and Tony grabbed him. Clint looked around, breathing heavily, trying to take in his surroundings. 

   “It’s ok, you’re ok. We gave you a shot of adrenaline, breathe through it,” Natasha commanded.

Clint fought against the pounding of his heart and the strong anxiety that made him feel like doom was imminent. He tried to breathe and focus on Natasha’s voice. He was shaking. 

   “Come on, keep breathing,” Bruce encouraged. He checked Clint’s pulse. It was high, but not dangerously so. 

   After a few minutes Clint managed to calm down enough for them to explain what was happening. It all came rushing back- the building, being trapped, debris collapsing, then the agonizing pain. 

   Clint glanced down at his foot and gagged as he saw the angle it was at. He leaned over and threw up, barely missing Bruce. 

   “Shit. Sorry,” Clint said gasping. 

   “It’s ok, nausea is a symptom of adrenaline,” Bruce replied. 

   “My foot’s really fucked up.”

   “We’ll take care of it. We’re going to get you out of here then we’ll fix it,” Natasha promised. “Steve should be here any minute with the plane, but we’ve got to get up there.”

   “Ok,” Clint said breathlessly, trying to pull himself together. 

   He knew they needed to get out of here. They were away from the worst of the rubble, but the vibrations from the plane landing could topple everything. And he knew the sooner they got out of here the sooner he could get painkillers, because he really needed those right about now. The adrenaline had taken most of the agony away, but his foot still hurt like a bitch. He knew as the adrenaline wore off the pain would increase. 

   “Alright, Tony and Natasha are going to support you. Whatever you do don’t put weight on your broken foot,” Bruce instructed. 

   “Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it.” 

   Clint groaned as Natasha and Tony pulled him up. Bruce walked ahead of them making sure the path was relatively even, and moving things out of the way. Clint carefully hopped between Tony and Natasha. The hopping was jarring his foot, and he took deep breaths against the pain. He’d have probably passed out again at this point if it weren’t for the adrenaline. 

   “You’re pretty good at this Barton,” Tony remarked. 

   “I never thought I’d say this, but thank fuck for the circus,” Clint replied. Acrobatics training proved helpful in the weirdest situations. 

   They slowly made their way up the hill with only a few near-falls. They heard and saw the plane coming in for a landing. Bruce was physically and mentally exhausted by the time they were near the top, so he could only imagine how Clint was feeling. 

   “Where did you get adrenaline?,” Clint asked, trying to distract himself from the throbbing in his foot that was now radiating through his entire leg. 

   “Tony had it,” Natasha replied. 

   “You just carry around adrenaline?,” Clint asked, looking at Tony. 

   “Oh my God, it’s for Pepper, everyone get off my back,” Tony said rolling his eyes. 

   “Pepper is allergic to bees, so Tony built it into his suit,” Natasha explained. 

   “You’re a good guy Tony,” Clint huffed, fighting against pain and exhaustion.

   “Please don’t spread rumors like that about me. I have an image to uphold,” Tony replied. 

   Clint snorted in amusement. However, his amusement turned into agony as they hit the steepest part of the hill. He could barely keep his one foot under himself and he knew Tony and Natasha were having to carry most of his weight. He knew they were both already exhausted and now they were having to practically carry him. 

  He needed to stay focused and conscious, at least until they got to the plane. They could hear it approaching. 

   A minute after the plane landed Steve jumped out and ran down the slope. He met the group and carefully picked Clint up. 

   At this point Clint had been barely able to move, and Tony and Natasha had been almost dragging him. The five of them made their way the relatively short distance up to the plane. 

   Even Steve struggled to carry Clint over the rough terrain. Bruce knew the three of  them wouldn’t have been able to carry Clint on their own if he had been unconscious.  

   They made it on board the plane and Steve carefully set Clint down on a cot before heading back to the controls to get them home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I know injecting someone with adrenaline to wake them up is not medically accurate, but it made for good drama so I went with it. I tried to do some basic medical research, but I'm not an expert so sorry for any glaring errors. 
> 
>  [Clint Barton Bingo Card](https://motherofbeardeddragons.tumblr.com/post/183483152992/im-excited-to-take-part-in-the-clint-barton-bingo)
> 
> [I'm on Tumblr!](https://motherofbeardeddragons.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  


	2. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony grapples with his guilt and talks to Clint.

    Natasha and Tony collapsed simultaneously onto the soft seats of the plane, exhausted after having dragged Clint up the hill. Fortunately Steve had brought a medic with him and Bruce filled him in on Clint’s condition before collapsing near Tony and Natasha. 

   Despite all of their exhaustion, they watched carefully as the medic hooked Clint up to an IV, checked his vitals, and administered pain medication. 

   “How are you doing?,” Natasha tiredly asked Clint after a few minutes. 

   “A lil’ better,” Clint slurred. “Still sucks though…”

   Natasha smiled, sitting beside Clint as the medic kept careful watch over his vitals and assessed his foot. They wouldn’t know how bad the break was until they were able to x-ray it.  

   Bruce was already asleep. He was normally exhausted after Hulking out, but he had also had to deal with all of the added stress and exertion after. Tony pulled a blanket over his sleeping friend and made his way up to the cockpit. 

   “How’s he doing?,” Steve asked as Tony sat in the seat beside him. 

   “Stable, the medic gave him some pain meds so that helped. We won’t know what his foot looks like until we get back to the tower.”

   “I wish I could have gotten here sooner,” Steve said. 

   He had been working on a SHIELD surveillance mission involving a possible HYDRA group when he had gotten the news about the team’s mission gone wrong. He had immediately jumped into action, stopping at a nearby SHIELD office to grab a medic and taking off. He knew he could get there quicker than a SHIELD response team since it would take them forever to coordinate everything. 

   An extraction team hadn’t been in place because they hadn’t thought they’d need it. This was supposed to be a relatively easy routine mission, and Steve was kicking  himself that he hadn’t gone along. Fury had wanted him to check out this HYDRA group for a while, and the team had insisted they were ok. But he should have been there.  

   “How are you, Natasha, and Bruce?,” Steve asked. 

   “We’re ok. Bruce is crashed out, he had Hulked out so he’s past exhausted. Natasha is keeping Clint and the medic you kidnapped company.”

   “I didn’t kidnap him.”

   “That’s not what he said,” Tony replied, smirking. 

   “I just...told him I had a mission and he needed to come with me now. He could have said no.”

   “Like anyone is going to say no to Captain freaking America,” Tony said. 

   Steve shrugged. “I needed a medic and he was nearby. I’ll bring him back when we’re done.”

   Tony snorted. “I’m just messing with you. The kid’s excited as hell to be on an Avengers mission.”

   “That’s good to hear. Fury might be pissed if he found out I took one of his agents hostage.”

   “Speaking of Fury getting pissed, did you finish your SHIELD mission? Or did you rush out in the middle of everything?” Tony had been surprised at how quickly Steve had gotten there.

   “I was just doing surveillance. I didn’t blow my cover and that HYDRA cell will still be there. The team was more important. I should have been there.”

Tony took in Steve’s guilty expression and felt his own guilt rise. Now that they were safe, he felt the full weight of his actions sink in. He had rushed to get them out of there. Instead of being safe he had ignored JARVIS’ warning and had caused the debris to collapse. He had broken Clint’s foot because he had let his own fears get to him. 

   “It was my fault,” Tony said, after a moment. 

   Steve looked at him, “Tony, you’re the one who got him out of there.”

   “Yes, but I’m the one who…”

   The two of them turned to look when someone approached from behind. It was the medic. 

   “How long until we reach our destination?,” the medic asked Steve, slightly out of breath. 

   “About thirty minutes.”

   “How’s Clint doing? He sounds like he’s still in pain,” Tony asked, giving the medic a skeptical look. He could still hear Clint groaning occasionally and it was causing his already immense guilt to multiply. 

   “He’s stable and resting. I don’t want to give him too much pain medication right now.”

   “Why the not? The guy’s in pain, give him some of the good stuff,” Tony said. 

   “I don’t feel comfortable giving him anything strong without a doctor present.”

   “Banner’s back there.”

   “Isn’t Dr. Banner a physicist?,” the medic asked, confused.

   “He’s practically an MD,” Tony said shrugging, “It’s really just a formality at this point.”

   “So Clint’s going to be ok?,” Steve asked the medic, changing the subject. He could tell the kid was nervous, and that this was probably his first time being on a mission on his own. 

   “He’ll probably need surgery to fix his foot,” the medic replied. “Don’t worry, it’ll be pretty minor surgery, the break doesn’t look too bad,” he quickly added, seeing Tony’s slightly panicked expression at the mention of surgery. 

   “Thank you, we really appreciate your help,” Steve said to the medic. 

   “We just need to monitor his heart for the next few hours because of the adrenaline,” the medic mentioned, shooting Tony a slightly annoyed look. 

   “Bruce is the one that injected him,” Tony said, throwing his hands up.

   “It was your idea,” Natasha said from the back of the plane. 

   “Shut it Romanoff.”

   “I wouldn’t recommend randomly injecting people with adrenaline in the future, it’s pretty dangerous,” the medic suggested. 

   “Look, we didn’t have much of a choice,” Tony defended. 

   “Couldn’t you have used your suit?”

   “It took too much damage, the power’s down.”

   “Couldn’t you have just carried him?,”  the medic asked. 

   “Over all the rubble and debris and shit? You would have had three more people with mangled limbs if we had gone that route,” Tony said, rolling his eyes.

   “Well anyway, thank you for your help. You’re doing a good job,” Steve said, trying to keep the peace. 

   The medic sighed and went to the back of the plane. “Today was supposed to be my day off,” he muttered. 

   “You couldn’t have kidnapped a more pleasant medic?,” Tony asked Steve. 

   “He’s doing pretty good considering I dragged him away at the last second,” Steve stated.

   “I guess. He looks like he’s sixteen. He should be flipping burgers, not being in charge of people’s lives”

   “You’re also being kind of a jackass,” Steve added with a slightly amused look. 

   Tony sighed. “I’ll make sure he’s handsomely compensated for his troubles.”

   “I know you’re stressed out about Clint. And I know you’re blaming yourself, even though you shouldn’t” Steve said. 

   “You don’t know what happened down there. I know you like to assume the best of everyone, but I fucked up.”

   “If you hadn’t gone down there Clint and Bruce would still be trapped. Even if you did mess up, they’d be in a lot worse shape than they are now if you hadn’t stepped in,” Steve pointed out.

   “Yeah, logically I know that’s true, but I still feel like shit knowing I could have got Clint out without maiming him if I hadn’t been a dumbass about it,” Tony replied. 

   “Talk to him, when he’s up to it. It’ll probably be the only thing that’ll make you feel better,” Steve said.

   Tony nodded. He needed to apologize to Clint. “I plan on it.” 

   Tony watched as Steve carefully brought the plane down on the roof of the tower and a team of medics ran out to get Clint. The frazzled young medic gratefully passed Clint off to the team as Steve and Tony helped Bruce and Natasha up and into the tower. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Clint was in a haze of pain and drugs on the way to the tower. He knew the medic wanted to be careful and not give him too much pain medication (especially considering he had just been shot up with adrenaline earlier), but damn his foot hurt. He had been given enough pain medication to take the edge off, but not enough to really help. 

   Every now and then the throbbing pain was interrupted by sharp jolts that ran all the way up his leg. He couldn’t help but groan in pain and frustration. It wasn’t just that his foot was broken, although yes that really sucked, but he knew he would be out of commission for weeks or even months. That was the worst part about being sick or injured- the fact that he would have to sit around and feel useless while he recovered. 

   Although, he knew it could be a lot worse. He’d dealt with worse injuries than this in the past. 

   He felt the plane land and found himself suddenly surrounded by medical personnel and rushed into the medical area of the tower. Before he knew it he was finally given painkillers and was wheeled into surgery. The pain finally faded into blissful darkness as the bright lights of the OR shone above him. 

   When Clint woke up later he felt surprising better. Not great, but better. It was probably the drugs.

   “Welcome back,” Natasha said next to him. 

   “What’s the prognosis?,” Clint asked, voice slightly raspy. He accepted the glass of water Natasha held out for him. 

   “Your foot was broken in two places, fortunately they were clean breaks. They used some new nano tech implants, so it should cut the recovery time in half. Probably only a few weeks in a walking cast,” Natasha explained. 

   Clint sighed in relief. The break wasn’t as bad as he had feared and on top of that, thanks to the latest technology, he wouldn’t be down for long. 

   “Stark wants to talk to you,” Natasha said, standing up. “I’ll go let him know you’re up.”

   “Sir is already on his way down,” JARVIS stated, “he asked to be informed as soon as Mr. Barton was awake.”

   Clint gave Natasha a questioning look and she shrugged, not knowing what it was all about. Although she could guess- Tony was probably blaming himself for Clint’s foot for whatever reason. 

   The two looked up as the door opened and Tony came walking in. “Good to see you conscious, although the peace and quiet was nice,” Tony said as a greeting. 

   “I’m sure you more than made up for it,” Clint replied, rolling his eyes. 

   “I’ll leave you two to it,” Natasha said, smiling slightly as she left. 

   “Nat said you wanted to talk?,” Clint said, sitting up more. 

   Tony took the seat that Natasha had just vacated. “Yeah, that is if you’re not too drugged up.”

   Clint snorted. “I wish. I’ve had so many surgeries and painkillers at this point I have a pretty good tolerance.” 

   “That’s probably not healthy.”

   “No, probably not.”

  "I just wanted to talk about what happened,” Tony started. 

   “Thanks for getting me out,” Clint said sincerely. He knew if it wasn’t for Tony his ass would probably still be down there. 

   “No, don’t thank me. Please. I just, I wanted to apologize. It was my fault your foot was broken. I rushed and didn’t listen to JARVIS’ suggestions. I was so focused on getting out quickly that I made a mistake and you got hurt.”

   Clint shrugged. “So you made a wrong call. I know you were trying to get us out of there before the whole thing went down. All of us are out and ok.”

   “I didn’t rush because I was worried about the building collapsing, well I was, but that’s not the main reason. I rushed because I was afraid,” Tony admitted, gritting his teeth. 

   “It was a tense situation…”

   Tony shook his head. “It was because of Afghanistan. Since then closed-in spaces have made me nervous. Anything small and dark and cave-like. I rushed to get us out of there because I was starting to panic.”

   “Tony, it’s ok. We all have our things,” Clint reassured him.  

   “No, you got hurt because I couldn’t deal with my shit.”

   Clint sighed. “Look, I get it. I still have problems after being brainwashed by Loki, and it’s been years. I still have issues when we fight magic users, I’ve had times where I’ve frozen on missions. And if anyone knows what it’s like to feel guilty for hurting someone, even unintentionally, it’s me.”

   Tony knew Clint still struggled with the guilt of all the people he hurt and killed while under Loki’s influence, even though it wasn’t in any way his fault and he had had no control over it. 

   “Well, this whole thing sucks,” Tony said after a moment. He knew feeling guilty wouldn’t help Clint. He had apologized and he needed to try to let go of the guilt, even though it might take some time. 

   “Yeah, a little bit. They won’t let me have coffee,” Clint said, frowning. 

   “That’s practically a war crime.”

   “I know! Something about not mixing caffeine and painkillers.”

   “Whatever. I’ve mixed caffeine with pretty much every substance known to man and I’m ok,” Tony said shrugging. 

   “But  _ are _ you?,” Clint replied, grinning.

   “Ok, maybe not the best example, they might be onto something” Tony said, shrugging. 

   Clint and Tony talked and joked around for another hour until Clint started nodding off. 

   As Tony walked back to his lab he tried to think of something he could do for Clint. He had landed him in the hospital for the night, the least he could do was something  small to make it better. He had thought about smuggling in coffee, but if he caused Clint’s heart to explode or something then he really would feel bad. 

   He was almost to the doors of his lab when it hit him. He knew what to do. 

   That was how another hour later Tony found himself struggling to control a yellow lab hellbent on dragging him down the hall. His plan had been to sneak Lucky into the medical unit, but given how he was barrelling down the hall subterfuge wasn’t really an option. He would have to rely on Lucky’s natural charm and adorableness. It proved an effective strategy when Lucky insisted on greeting and making friends with everyone on the medical floor. 

   Tony finally managed to steer Lucky to Clint’s room and watched as he sniffed around, wagging his tail, then immediately jumped into the bed next to Clint. Lucky curled up next to him and Tony couldn’t help but smile aa Clint sleepily laid a hand on Lucky’s head and snuggled in next to him. 

   Tony grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the dog slobber off his hand and attempted to dust off some of the dog hair from his pants.

   “I’m guessing you won’t be getting a dog any time soon?,” Natasha asked in amusement, walking into the room. 

   “That’s gonna be a no,” Tony replied. “He dragged me down six blocks from Clint’s apartment, chased a squirrel through some bushes, and almost knocked an intern over in the lobby.”

   “You have to admit he’s cute,” Natasha said, watching Lucky sleeping next to Clint, snoring softly.

    “Yeah, I guess,” Tony replied, rolling his eyes. Natasha didn’t miss that he was smiling slightly. 

   “It was nice of you to bring him,” Natasha said. 

   “It was the least I could do.”

   Natasha put a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “He’s going to be ok. You don’t have anything to feel guilty over.”

   Tony wasn’t surprised that Natasha had managed to figure out what was going on. She was an expert on reading people and Tony knew he had been radiating guilt. 

   “I know. It’ll take some time, but I’m sure when Clint recovers it’ll all be good.”

   “It’ll be pretty quick from what the medical team said.”

   “Yeah, there’s that at least,” Tony replied. 

   “Let’s let him get some rest.”

   “Ok. You still owe me money by the way,” Tony said as they exited the room. 

   “You’re a billionaire.”

   “A bet’s a bet Romanoff.”

   Thirty minutes later Clint felt himself startle awake, having been dreaming about explosions, rubble, and cracked bones. He felt the aches and pains under the blanket of painkillers and carefully shifted his weight. He felt warm fur and looked down in surprise to see Lucky. He smiled as Lucky cracked one eye open, looked at him, then went back to sleep. 

   Clint pulled Lucky slightly closer and found himself soothed by his warm, calm presence and the gentle rise and fall of his breathing. Clint soon found himself falling  back asleep. It had been a rough day, but he would be ok because he knew his team had his back and he had theirs. 

===================================================================

   Two months later Clint took a deep breath and jumped from his perch, firing a grappling hook arrow. He swung to the ground, tucking and rolling, and stabbed an assassin with an arrow. 

   It had taken weeks of therapy and exercise, but his ankle was as good as new, and he had finally been cleared to return to the field. It felt good to be back. 

   Tony had joined him at several of his physical therapy sessions. As the weeks went by and Clint recovered it seemed like Tony had finally been able to make peace with what had happened. 

   Clint still had nightmares about being trapped, but for the most part they had started to fade. He was just glad that they had all made it through that mission relatively unscathed (except for his foot, obviously) and were back to fighting together. After seeing the footage of the battle, including the explosion and building collapse, Clint knew it could have been a lot worse. But fortunately they were a team, and they would do whatever it took to keep each other safe and help each other through whatever happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this fic! I haven't decided which square on my [Clint Barton Bingo Card](https://motherofbeardeddragons.tumblr.com/post/183483152992/im-excited-to-take-part-in-the-clint-barton-bingo) I'm doing next. 
> 
>  
> 
> [I'm on Tumblr!](https://motherofbeardeddragons.tumblr.com/)


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